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Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft
Religion
Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, dogmas, and practices that define the relations between human being
and sacred or divinity. According to Iyanla Vanzant, it is the rules, regulations, ceremonies, and rituals
developed by man to create conformity and uniformity in the approach to God. And spirituality is the call of God
in your soul. A supernatural order is the original and fundamental source of all that exists. It is this supernatural
order which defines the limits of what may be known. Something that is supernatural is above, beyond, or
transcendent to the natural world — it is not a part of or dependent upon nature or any natural laws. The
supernatural is also commonly conceived of as being better, higher, or purer than the mundane, natural world
around us.
A given religion is defined by specific elements of a community of believers: dogmas, sacred books, rites,
worship, sacrament, moral prescription, interdicts, organization. The majority of religions have developed
starting from a revelation based on the exemplary history of a nation, of a prophet or a wise man who taught an
ideal of life.
A religion may be defined with its three great characteristics:
 Beliefs and religious practices
 The religious feeling i.e. faith
 Unity in a community of those who share the same faith: The Church. It is what differentiates religion from
magic.
An individual's or community's religious orientation involves presumptions about the existence and nature of
God or gods, and religious prescriptions about morality, communal, and personal spirituality. In relation to this,
Allport conceptualized religion into two (2) orientations in 1966, namely extrinsic, which uses religion for security
and support, and intrinsic orientation, which views religion as an ultimate truth. These orientations create a
moral community, provides rites of passage and emotional support, serve as a means to provide answers to
ultimate questions, and believe to be an agent of social change.
Magic
According to Henrik Bogdan, a Historian of Religion, magic has often been dismissed as either primitive and
irrational and therefore alien to modern society, as inherently opposed to the Judeo-Christian traditions of the
West, or as incompatible with religion in general. These antipathetic sentiments are deeply embedded in
Western culture, and the term magic has typically been used to describe non-mainstream beliefs and practices
– non-Christians, heretics, non-Westerners, indigenous, ancient or 'primitive' cultures – any that might be
considered 'Other.' The image of magic as inherently linked with the Other has functioned as an important factor
in the construction of the self-identity of Western culture, for by defining magic as something alien, exotic,
primitive, evil, deviant, or even ridiculous, our society also makes a tacit statement as to its self-perceptions.
Magical rituals are the precisely defined actions, including speech, used to work magic. Bronisław Malinowski
describes ritual language as possessing a high "coefficient of weirdness" in that the language used in rituals is
archaic and out of the ordinary. This, he ascribes to the need to create a mindset that fosters belief in the ritual.
However, S. J. Tambiah notes that even if the power of the ritual is said to reside in the words, magic only
becomes effective if uttered in the special context of other actions. These other actions typically consist of
gestures, possibly performed with special objects at a particular place or time. The objects, locations, and
performers may require purification beforehand, a condition that parallels the felicity conditions J. L. Austin
requires of performative utterances.
Witchcraft
Witchcraft means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised
individually, by designated social groups, or by persons with the necessary esoteric knowledge. In non-scientific
societies, perceived magical attack is an idea sometimes employed to explain personal or societal misfortune.
It is an explanation of events based on the belief that certain individuals possess an innate psychic power
capable of causing harm, including sickness and death. It is a way for people to explain a personal misfortune
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without having to shoulder any blame to themselves. Provides an outlet for feelings of hostility and frustration
without disturbing the norms of the larger group.
In anthropological and historical contexts this is often termed witchcraft or sorcery, and the perceived attackers
witches or sorcerers. Their maleficium - a term that applies to any magical act intended to cause harm or death
to people or property - is often seen as a biological trait or an acquired skill.
Known members of the community may be accused as witches, or the witches may be perceived as
supernatural, non-human entities. In early modern Europe and Britain such accusations led to the executions
of tens of thousands of people, who were seen to be in league with Satan.
Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft
Most cultures of the world have religious beliefs that supernatural powers can be compelled, or at least
influenced, to act in certain ways for good or evil purposes by using ritual formulas. These formulas are, in a
sense, magic. By performing certain magical acts in a particular way, crops might be improved, game herds
replenished, illness cured or avoided, animals and people made fertile. This is very different from television and
stage "magic" that depends on slight-of-hand tricks and contrived illusions rather than supernatural power.
For those who believe that magic is an effective method for causing supernatural actions, there are two major
ways in which this commonly believed to occur--sympathy and contagion. Sympathetic magic is based on the
principle that "like produces like." For instance, whatever happens to an image of someone will also happen to
them. This is the basis for use of Voodoo dolls in the folk tradition of Haiti. If someone sticks a pin into the
stomach of the doll, the person of whom it is a likeness will be expected to experience a simultaneous pain in
his or her stomach. Sympathetic magic is also referred to as imitative magic. Contagious magic is based on
the principle that things or persons once in contact can afterward influence each other. In other words, it is
believed that there is a permanent relationship between an individual and any part of his or her body. As a
consequence, believers must take special precautions with their hair, fingernails, teeth, clothes, and feces. If
anyone obtained these objects, magic could be performed on them which would cause the person they came
from to be affected. For instance, someone could use your fingernail clippings in a magical ritual that would
cause you to love them or to fall ill and die.
In a belief system that uses magic as the most logical explanation for illness, accidents, and other unexpected
occurrences, there is no room for natural causes or chance. Witchcraft provides the explanation--it can be the
cause for most effects. Since it can be practiced in secret, the existence of witchcraft cannot be easily refuted
with arguments. Believers are not dissuaded by pointing out that there is no evidence that any witchcraft was
used against them. For example, you may wake up in the middle of the night and go to get a drink of water.
On the way, you trip over a chair in the dark, which causes you to break your leg. You may be convinced that
it was an accident. However, if you believe in witchcraft, you will ask why this accident happened to you and
why now. Magic practiced in secret by someone who wants to harm you is the answer. The only reasonable
questions are who performed the magic and why. The answers to these questions come through divination
which is a magical procedure by which the cause of a particular event or the future is determined. Once the
guilty person is discovered, retribution may be gained by public exposure and punishment or by counter
witchcraft.
Divination is accomplished by many different methods around the world. Shamans usually go into a trance to
find out the answers from their spirit helpers. The ancient Romans divined the outcome of battles or business
deals by autopsying chickens and examining the condition of their livers. Divination is still popular with many
people in the United States today. There are individuals who set up business to divine the future for their clients
by examining such things as tea leaves in the bottom of a cup, lines in the hand, and tarot cards.
In societies in which magic and witchcraft are accepted as realities, mental illness is usually explained as being
a consequence of witchcraft or the actions of supernatural beings and forces. In Nigeria, folk curers are licensed
by the government to use supernatural means and herbal remedies to cure people who are suffering from
mental illness. Nigeria also licenses doctors trained in Western medicine, which totally rejects the idea of illness
being caused by magic or other supernatural causes. However, the Western trained doctors and the folk curers
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in Nigeria often work cooperatively and send each other patients that they cannot cure with their own
approaches.
When witchcraft is a widespread belief in a society, it may be used as a means of social control. Anti-social or
otherwise deviant behavior often results in an individual being labeled as a witch in such societies. Since
witches are feared and often ostracized or even killed when discovered, the mere threat of being accused of
witchcraft can be sufficient to force people into modal behavior.
References:
Atheism. (n.d.). What is religion? Retrieved from http://atheisme.free.fr/Religion/What-is-religion-1.htm
Darvyri, P. et al. (2014). The revised intrinsic/extrinsic religious orientation scale in a sample of Attica’s
inhabitants. Psychology, 5, 1557-1567. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/psych.2014.513166
Revolvy.
(n.d.).
Magic
(paranormal).
Retrieved
from
https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Magic%20(paranormal)
Haviland, William, Harald Prins, Dana Walrath, & Bunny McBride. (2010). Anthropology the human challenge.
United States: Cengage Learning.
Andreatta, Britt. (October 4, 2013). Inspire Friday ~ religion and spirituality. Retrieved from
http://www.soulschoolonline.com/tag/iyanla-vanzant/
O’Neil,
Dennis.
(Jull
11,
2016).
Magic
and
religion.
Retrieved
from
https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/religion/rel_5.htm
Cline, Austin. (June 20, 2017). Religion is a belief in supernatural beings. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/religion-is-belief-in-supernatural-beings-250678
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